Salam. We chose the name Isaiah for our son because it has a good meaning even though it is Hebrew not Arabic. Now we have been told it is wrong/haram to keep it because it is not a Muslim name. Do we need to change it?
We also found the name Isaiah in an Islamic book, stories of the prophets by ibn katheer, so we thought is good in Islam. But people still say it is not a muslim name and we should change it. Please help, thanks.
Answer
Scholars in general do not like Muslim children to be named after characters mentioned in the Bible but not in the Quran or hadith, for example Benyameen/Benjamin is the name of Prophet Yusuf's brother in the Bible, but Muslims do not generally use it as a name. But there is no rule against it, it is just a preference.
For this reason you can use Isaiah as a Muslim name, but it is a question of whether you like the name enough to be ready to have to explain and justify it to all the uninformed Muslims who will say it is wrong/haram.
